Amazon Plans to Offer Desktops in the Cloud

Many businesses no longer buy servers–they just turn to Amazon’s cloud computing service to run their operations. Some now may apply the same tactic to personal computers.

The Seattle-based company’s Web services unit on Wednesday announced what it calls Amazon WorkSpaces, which amounts to deploying virtual Windows PCs on Amazon servers. Such a service opens up several different possibilities.

In theory, for example, a user could access Windows-based applications from many kinds of devices, including Apple Macs or iPads, Android or Amazon Kindle Fire tablets, Google Chromebooks or conventional laptops.

Assuming a decent Internet connection, they also should be able to get pretty much the same experience in using those applications when they are on the move as when they are in the office

“You can access it from anywhere–your friend’s house, a mobile device, your laptop,” says Dan Cordingley, chief executive of Teradici, a startup whose technology Amazon is using with WorkSpaces.

And, of course, there’s the potential benefit of not having to operate computers and keep them updated with security patches and such.

Such virtual desktop offerings have been available for years for big companies, often on their own servers. WorkSpaces, by contrast, could just as easily be used by individuals, small businesses and startups.

Amazon’s AWS unit, which announced WorkSpaces at an annual conference in Las Vegas, said it is less than half the cost of such conventional virtual desktop offerings. Prices range from $35 to $75 per user month, with higher-cost bundles offering greater performance or access to more software, including Microsoft Office, Amazon said.

Teradici, which has offices in British Columbia and Silicon Valley, developed its own technology to compress and encrypt information associated with a PC session and deliver it over the Internet. Besides supporting various computing devices, Cordingley says it has developed chips for incorporating into devices like large computer monitors.

He estimates Teradici has about four million users at companies now. With Amazon now reaching out to small businesses and users, “we think that’s really going to accelerate adoption,” Cordingley says.